Parker Meets a Baby
by Azulastalker
Summary: Nate and Sophie bring their newborn son to the bar to meet the rest of the crew. Parker is intrigued by him, having never formally met a baby before.


Parker stared relentlessly into the large, unfocused eyes of the child sitting in a baby carrier on the bar at Bridgeport Brewery. Drool dripped out of its mouth and down its chin. It kicked and babbled.

"So what does it do?" She asked. The rest of the team was nearby, including Nate and Sophie. Sophie turned from her conversation with Eliot about good baby food to address her.

"He's only a month old, Parker. He can't do anything." She walked over and stared down at the baby, which wiggled happily at seeing her. Yes, the baby was her and Nate's. Named James, Jimmy for short, in honor of Nate's father. When he'd told her his name choice in the hospital, she'd almost cried. Despite his hatred for his father when he was alive, Nate took his death pretty hard and decided to honor his father.

"Except eat, sleep, and poop." Eliot said from behind the bar, bringing Sophie out of her thoughts. Parker made a disgusted face.

"Do you want to hold him Parker?" Sophie asked. Immediately, Nate perked up and ran from his place beside Eliot to the other side of the bar.

"No no no. Not that I don't trust you, Parker, but . . . I don't trust you. Specifically with my newborn son." He stepped between the carrier and Parker.

"Nate-" Sophie objected, seeing the hurt look on Parker's face.

"No. No one is touching our son for you and me and maybe Eliot." Nate answered, motioning towards Eliot cleaning glasses behind the bar.

"Eliot gets to hold Little Jimmy?" Hardison interjected from behind Sophie, hurt very evident in his voice. He placed his hand dramatically on his chest.

"Don't call him Little Jimmy." Nate had the sudden urge to cover his face with his hand.

"Why does Eliot get priority? Eliot's killed people and you're going to trust him with a human life? I have dexterous fingers from my thing," he made a typing motion with his hands, "and Parker's got a good grip from holding those priceless vases and stuff from her own thing." Parker nodded furiously in agreement.

Nate looked between the couple. He waved his hand in the air in a random motion and turned to Sophie. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well Eliot doesn't fool around like you two do. I know he won't get distracted and drop him or leave him somewhere."

Eliot smirked at the glass he was drying. Hardison and Parker both opened their mouths at the same time.

"So we're not serious enough for you-!"

"You trust us with this, but not with your son-?"

Their shouts intertwined and, once Nate joined trying to defend himself, it was hard to figure out what everyone was saying. Sophie huffed and looked at Eliot, who didn't look like he would interfere anytime soon. She guessed it would have to be her.

After a minute of shouting, a few minutes of reasoning, some long-drawn-out heart-to-heart about how Nate really felt, and one poured glass of scotch, Parker was finally holding Jimmy in her arms. She looked down at the baby's face with a small twitch of her lips. Hardison stood behind her with a hand on her shoulder, staring into the tiny, pale face as well. Sophie nudged Nate with her elbow and pointed at the couple, her hands clasped in front of her. He lifted his attention from his scotch and when he saw the two, for a second it looked like it was their baby. Hardison looking incredibly happy and Parker confused with a vague sense of happiness on her features. Nate let himself give them a small smile before his lips met the glass again.

The spell was broken, however, when Jimmy was idle for too long and Parker blurted, "Okay, I'm done now," passing the baby to a flustered Hardison. Nate and Sophie both jumped forward when Hardison juggled the unexpected baby, but relaxed when he was firmly situated in the crook of his arm.

"Parker!" Eliot yelled. Did she even realize she'd just undone everything?

"What? He doesn't do anything!" She retorted.

Sophie pressed her hand to her forehead and Nate poured himself more scotch as Eliot and Parker argued. Hardison's loud whisper tried to convince them to quiet down to not bother Jimmy, but they ignored him. Nate whispered to Sophie that it had been her idea to bring the baby here.


End file.
